Isabella
by feeling-o'-stupidity
Summary: What happens when Phineas tells Isabella to meet him at the mall instead of going with her? The worst thing possible of course.
1. Chapter 1

Phineas rode in the back of the ambulance to the hospital watching as the paramedics did all they could. He knew this wasn't his fault but he felt responsible. He was trying not to cry but it was hard to see her like this.

Phineas was working on his usual daily project when Isabella came over and asked if he wanted to go for a bike ride to the Googolplex mall with her, without Ferb. He didn't feel right about leaving Ferb but told her he would meet her there in 10 minutes. He just had to quickly finish up the reactor so it wouldn't explode when he left. He knew Ferb could probably finish on his own but he didn't feel right about leaving Isabella or Ferb but not blowing up Danville had to come first. Isabella left disappointed without Phineas who managed to finish the reactor a couple of minutes early. He peddled as fast as he could to catch up to her. Finally when he was halfway there he saw her crossing the street. He was about to call out for her to wait up when a small sedan flew straight through the red light sending Isabella flying over the roof. Phineas quickly got over to Isabella to find her unconscious with the handlebar embedded in her shoulder.

"Isabella! Isabella are you okay? I'm right here." Isabella was breathing but she clearly wasn't doing well. Phineas joined the people around him in calling 911 while he sat next to Isabella holding her hand not sure what to do. After about ten minutes an ambulance finally arrived and loaded her in. They decided not to even bother questioning him when he climbed in the back with them. He watched helplessly as they tried to stop her bleeding. When they finally got to the hospital Phineas stayed next to the stretcher the whole way to make sure they couldn't make him leave he followed it straight into the emergency room where he sat off to the side while they did all the things that needed to be done. Finally the doctors finished. They told him she had lost a lot of blood and it didn't look good before they left. He went over to her side where she was sleeping.

"Hey Isabella." She sat there unresponsive.  
>"Actually I don't know what I'm going to do today." He talked to himself wishing he could hear her, or her him<br>"I was thinking about sticking next to you for as much as I can actually." Isabella stirred a little. He took her hand hoping she would wake up.  
>"Of course I want to be next to you. You're the only person I want to be with." Isabella's eyes fluttered open slightly.<p>

"Phineas?"

"I'm here. I'm right here." Isabella was still barely moving. Even while speaking her mouth was virtually stationary

"Whatcha doing?" The slightest of smiles quickly showed on her pale face

"Sitting next to the most amazing person in the one place I wish she'd never be."

"Good." She sighed "Hey Phineas can I tell you a secret."

"Anything."

"I love you." Phineas felt his heart stop but more importantly he heard Isabella's stop with a loud 'beeeep' from the machine. Doctor's immediately surrounded the bed while nurses pushed Phineas out into the hallway. They wanted to take him to the waiting room but he insisted on standing outside the door under the blinking blue light. He stood there for what seemed like forever until the light finally went off. Everything was finally okay. He ran through the door before the hospital staff saw him, eager to see Isabella again. He had something he had to say back to her.


	2. Chapter 2

Phineas looked around the room. Isabella's heart rate monitor was no longer showing a solid line. But that was because it had been unplugged. All of the doctor's in the room looked sad and when Phineas saw the girl lying on the bed he knew why. The light hadn't gone off because she was okay. It went off because she wasn't. A doctor came up to Phineas reluctantly and put a hand on his shoulder.

"We did all we could but.." Phineas just fell back against the wall. The doctors wanted to help him up on instinct but they knew he needed this. They continued to follow their normal procedures trying to work around Phineas as much as they could. Finally he got up and walked over to Isabella one more time. She was there motionless, her face already having lost its entire natural blush. Phineas didn't know what to do. There was almost always something he could do in any situation but now the one time he really wished more than anything that all the bad things would disappear and he would wake up. But he saw no waking up in his or Isabella's futures. Finally after a couple of minutes a doctor put a hand on Phineas's back and led him to the waiting room. He sat down just staring at his hands. Isabella was dead. Phineas broke down and cried and cried. Before he knew it he had to go home. The staff who had seen him with Isabella all wanted to be sure he was okay before he left. When he got to the doors he realized he didn't have his bike and even if he did he wouldn't be able to see anyway. He called his mom for a ride. She showed up within 5 minutes apparently having been at a cooking class nearby.

When Linda got there she was shocked by the look on her son's face. He was broken. He hadn't been specific as to what broke him over the phone. She wanted to know what had happened but if she knew her kids she knew Phineas _**did not**_ want to talk about it. Finally halfway there she coughed a little to get Phineas's attention. He looked up knowing what she wanted without her asking

"Isabella died." His mother nearly crashed as she headed across a lane of traffic getting to the side of a road while slamming on the brakes. She wanted to ask him 'what?' but she knew that she hadn't heard him wrong and she knew he had known what he said. She didn't know what to say. She pulled back into the road and continued driving home. She was in shock but she felt the last thing Phineas needed was to be interrogated. Isabella had been with the family for just about as long as her husband and step son. And she wasn't going to think about that. She pulled up to the house and they both sat in the car for a couple minutes before Phineas finally spoke. "Do you think they told Mrs. Garcia-Shapiro yet?" Linda looked at her son questioningly. He certainly wasn't in any sort of position to comfort anyone but he seemed like he just wanted to talk to someone who knew what happened.

"I'm sure they have honey. I don't think..." She didn't know how to say it but Phineas understood

"I know it's just.." He paused for a moment before opening the car door and getting out. He walked upstairs to his room and fell face-first onto his bed. It hurt his nose whenever he did that but what did it matter anymore. What did anything matter anymore? Earlier today he gave up time with Isabella just so he could finish something with Ferb. Now he would give his own soul just to talk to her once more. Or even just to hear her ask him what he was doing. Ferb walked into the room not surprised to see his brother lying face-down on his bed. Ferb did the same with his bed even though it hurt his oddly shaped nose too. There was one thing that both of them could always count on. Isabella being there. Ferb wasn't much of a crier but he had let some tears escape downstairs before coming up to 'talk' with his brother. Right now this face down position seemed like exactly the conversation they needed. After about 30 minutes to an hour Ferb decided to speak.

"How long do you plan on us lying here?" Phineas did move

"I wasn't planning rolling over if that's what you mean." Both brothers rolled to their backs. Ferb raised an eyebrow for Phineas to catch out of the corner of his eye. "I was there Ferb. When she got hit. When the ambulance arrived. When she told me she _loved_ me with her dying breath. And when the hospital realized resuscitation was fruitless." Ferb raised his eyebrow again. Which Phineas understood instantly. Phineas could probably have his eyes closed an know what Ferb was thinking anyway. "I know. And if I had just told her to stay and wait." He got up and began pacing "Or went with her. Or if I invented something to stop bleeding when I got there. Or even after she got to the hospital." Phineas was growing mad, furious really, with himself. Ferb stood up and put a hand on his brothers shoulder. Phineas looked his brother in the eyes. Ferb's eyes showed the understanding that only Ferb was capable of while Phineas eyes retained their self-loathing before breaking into tears as he grasped his brother in a hug. "She's gone Ferb." he choked out.


	3. Chapter 3

Phineas stopped building almost altogether. His family helped in all the ways they could for Mrs. Garcia-Shapiro preparing everything. It was hard for her as it was for them but they knew that they could work through it together. At the wake Isabella's mother, aunts, uncle, and the Flynn-Fletcher family stayed near the front. The coffin was kept closed and the burial was going to later that evening. The burial went just like any other. It didn't feel right to Phineas. Isabella deserved better than a common burial with clouds blocking the sun surrounded by people crying. Nature seemed to be matching the moods of everyone there.

For Phineas life had always been what you made of it. Never had Phineas thought of life being changed so drastically without any control. Phineas always had a way to make something fun, a positive spin to put on something, hope that whatever was wrong would fix itself. Those qualities were all but gone from him. His life consisted of getting up, eating, lying back down, eating again, and lying back down. With periods of feeling sorry for himself, something he had never felt in his life. Ferb had tried to get him up with blueprints, tools, special effects presentations. None of it mattered to Phineas. There was no point. How is life what you make of it when in the end you have no control? The happier he makes others the sadder they'll be when he's gone and the sadder he'll be when they're gone.

This was the point in Phineas's life from which everything else revolved. For some people this moment was a war, a president being elected, for some it was that song that came out when they were a teenager. When people ask them about their life they respond with "Oh it was 5 years before the war" or "yes it was right after Bush was elected." For Phineas it was losing his best friend. His rollercoaster was built 2 years before Isabella's death. He met Isabella 11 years before it. This was the point of his life from which everything would be measured in his mind.

Finally with a week to go before school Ferb watched as his brother got out of bed and let Perry paint stripes on a new shirt.

"Comeon Ferb," He smiled, weakly, but it was the first smile Ferb had seen from him in a month and a half "we're burning daylight." Ferb jumped at the opportunity. Even if they were just going to sit under the tree and do nothing. Phineas walked out to the backyard and took a deep breath before walking across to the tree he sat down with Ferb. Had Phineas's expression not been so uncharacteristically sad Ferb would have had a huge smile. Phineas stared at the gate to his backyard as a tear fell down his face.

"Hey Ferb. Remember that Christmas when Danville was marked as naughty and I just laid in the bed trying to wake up." Ferb nodded.

"I remember bro."

"Wouldn't it be nice to just wake up?"

"If you remember that all only happened specifically for the purpose of you wanting to have the chance to make the whole city happy just when they needed it." Phineas looked at his brother "Sometimes there's a reason for things and how they happen."

"You know something Ferb?" Ferb tilted his head "You've never made less sense." Ferb smiled "How about we make an underwater skate park for the large population of people in the tri-state area who enjoy skating and diving." Ferb nodded approvingly "Then, I know what we're going to do today."

(A/N It isn't over yet. I usually give my stories a non-ending like this where it just cuts off but at a prediction made by SmmrBlngs2U I was able to take that idea and type out an actual ending with a couple more chapters.)


	4. Chapter 4

The rest of the week Phineas stayed in bed for most of the day. It was hard to go back to the way things were when things were never going to be the way they were. Finally the night before school started Ferb shot out of bed remembering something. He looked to the bed next to him hoping but was slightly disappointed to see it empty. Ferb threw on some clothes as he ran out the door after his brother. He knew exactly where he was going.

Ever since the summer when they were 10 Phineas and Ferb had made a tradition. The night before school started they would use the time machine at the museum and take a look at everything they had built. It took them a while but they were always back about 10 minutes after they left. They didn't want to cut it too close and crush themselves. As soon as Ferb realized it was the night before school started he knew where his brother had gone. As he raced to the museum he thought about what he thought his brother was going to do. He knew the whole 'fix the bad future it disappears' thing but saving Isabella was something that would guaranty a better future. He ran in then was quiet as he approached the historical inventions section. When he saw his brother reach for the level he dove onto the side to go wherever his brother was.

Ferb was shocked when he saw it was nighttime. He kept his grip on the machine for a second in case his brother had made a mistake but his brother got out of the machine. Ferb followed trying to figure out when they were. He recognized it as his backyard but he was having trouble placing the date.

"Anyway, the party looks great. But you would not believe what a long day we've had; I think we're going to turn in early"

"You guys enjoy the party, okay?" Ferb recognized the day. He placed a hand on his brother's shoulder who was shocked for a second before recognizing Ferb as being from his time

"All right, you heard him! Let's enjoy this party." Ferb listened to the trumpets start.

"I was going to go back and save her Ferb but I had this day far too stuck in my head to not come here first. Plus I kindof figured you'd show up." They turned and watched Phineas and Isabella dancing and singing throughout the yard. "I don't know Ferb. If I could give my life to bring Isabella back you know I would but destroying the whole timeline." Ferb patted his brother's shoulder.

"I truly have no idea what to tell you bro." Phineas looked at his step brother then went back to observing the singing and dancing going on in the backyard.

"I supposed you were thinking about it when you realized where I went but I was hoping you'd give me more than that. I just keep thinking back to 'The Time Machine' 'I could come back a thousand times... and see her die a thousand ways.' It goes against everything to go back to the past specifically to destroy the present but it doesn't seem to make any sense to do anything else." They both watched as Candace's verse finished up and Jeremy entered the backyard.


	5. Chapter 5

"Suppose we did go back," Ferb started "Would our basic plan be to save Isabella therefore ensuring we no longer exist, so that we don't have to live without Isabella. A quantum kamikaze mission, if you will." Phineas nodded slightly as he watched himself and Isabella finish up dancing on the stage.

"When you put it that way it seems like a bad idea."

"Quite the contrary. The kamikazes were some of the most effective weapons of WWII." Phineas looked at his brother. "Besides, it's not really killing ourselves it's just a drastic life change that occurs before we exist."

"Great way to look at it bro." Phineas climbed into the time machine followed by his brother. They closed their eyes thinking back to the day and pulled the lever.

Phineas and Ferb watched space and time warp around them before reappearing in the daytime. They jumped out of the machine and took a couple of steps.

"We're all the way by Buford's house. I guess it's hard to think about today." They turned to go back to the time machine and watched as a giant foot attached to a blimp crushed it "Now how will we get back?" Ferb looked at his brother "Oh right.. well it looks like we only have one shot at this. Let's get to our backyard." They ran the 5 blocks to the backyard and ran in to find themselves working on the reactor.

"Hey why are we.."  
>"Where's Isabella!" Phineas asked interrupting himself.<p>

"She left for the mall. I'm going to go meet her..  
>"We've got to go stop her! Ferb can you finish the reactor by yourself?" This time's Ferb looked up thinking. "Ferb help yourself finish. I've got this." Ferb nodded and began to help himself. Phineas ran to the garage and grabbed his bike leaving himself to take Ferb's.<p>

"Why are we going so fast?" This time's Phineas asked as they sped along the way to the mall.

"I'm from the future and we have to get to Isabella fast."

"Clearly but why?" Phineas looked back at himself as he sped along. As he looked back forward he saw the front of a car at a stop sign. He flipped over the car's hood.

"Phineas are you okay?" He was asked by himself. He jumped up back on the bike shouting a sorry at the owner of the car he was pretty sure he had dented.

"On the way to the mall Isabella gets hit by a car." This time's Phineas looked shocked.

"On the way to the mall? As In NOW!" He sped up several notches as did his future self.

"If I hit another car you better keep going next time. It's the corner of Main and Elm. That's where it is."

They continued pedaling faster than either of them ever had. Even the Phineas from the future, who hadn't gotten up from bed for over a month, was pedaling faster than most professional bikers.

"Take the next right me. It'll get us to Elm and Main much faster." Both Phineas's turned off the path they would normally have taken to speed through an alley. As they pedaled down Elm and reached Main Phineas looked across the park at the corner to see Isabella heading to the corner while coming down Main Street. He watched as the light turned and Isabella sped up slightly so she could make it before the crossing signal went off. He and Phineas both exhausted from pedaling sped up again to reach Isabella before she made it to the corner.

"Woah!" Phineas looked back at this time's Phineas as he flipped over from getting his front tire caught in a grate "Don't Look GO!" He refocused immediately.

"ISABELLA!" Between the cars honking and traffic next to him and Isabella's headphones he knew she wouldn't hear him. He stood up on the pedals not slowing down. He had to time it just right.


	6. Chapter 6

Phineas jumped off his bike into Isabella knocking her completely off. The bike rolled into the road.

"Are you completely.." Isabella thought was interrupted by a sedan flying past flipping her bike over the front hood sending it flying to the ground. Phineas watched as the handlebar hit the ground leaving nothing more than a scratch. The same handlebar that had jammed itself into Isabella's shoulder. Phineas looked her over on the ground. She had a scraped knee but nothing else was wrong. Phineas hugged her tight. "That car would have plowed right into me. How did you.." They heard a broken squeaking sound as Phineas ran up with Ferb's bike which was all but destroyed.

"She's okay!" He said huffing. Phineas almost didn't hear him as he held Isabella. Isabella, who was completely okay. Completely alive.

"There are two of you!" Isabella said catching up quickly

"I'm from the future." Phineas said not releasing his grip on her. "It's so good to see you." He choked out.

"Wait did you come back because of that?" She asked pointing at her bike. Phineas nodded. "So I would have.." She gulped slightly "died if that car hit me?" Phineas nodded again.

"Had to change the past."

"So does that mean you're going to disappear now?" He asked himself "Since this didn't happen in your time?" Phineas shook his head yes.

"I wouldn't want to go back to my time anyway. It's not right but since we're going to talk about it Phineas there's something I only found out on this day in a couple hours at the hospital."

"What was that?"

"Isabella should probably tell you." He looked at Isabella. "You wouldn't want to wait until it's too late to tell him how you feel now would you?" Isabella's eyes widened as she looked from Phineas to Phineas.

"No, no I wouldn't. Phineas I.. I.. I love you! I always have its just I never knew how you'd react and.. and our friendship!.. I was just.." Isabella trailed off

"You.. love me? You love me. You love me!" Phineas picked her up in a hug spinning her around. "Thank yo.." He turned to where he had just been standing to see empty space. He looked down and saw a small note on the ground about to blow away. _Life isn't about the number of breaths we take but the number of moments that take our breath away. Now say 'I love you too Isabella'. I never got to. -Phineas._ Phineas would recognize his own handwriting anywhere he smiled putting the paper in his pocket "I love you too Isabella!" Isabella attacked him with a hug smiling.

So here we are at  
><strong>The End<strong>  
>Right back where we started.<p> 


	7. Chapter 7

(A/N Remember that last chapter when I said "**THE END**" and then all of you gave great reviews about my ending. Well I might have "accidentally" continued this story. This was the idea I had in my head for the ending before I stole the idea from the reviews (SmmrBlngs2U) for time travel. It fit quite nicely on the end of this if I do say so myself.)

Ferb and Ferb sat in the backyard having finished the reactor. They both kept checking their watches.

"Do you think they were too late?" This time's Ferb asked. Ferb didn't want to believe it, neither did Ferb, but it was hard to dispute the fact that Ferb was still there. He was about to respond when they heard the trash cans moving on the side of the house. "What was that?"

"I'm going to go check it out." Ferb walked over to the side of the house. Out of nowhere he felt himself being pulled into the bushes. "Who.."

"Shhh." Phineas stared at his brother directing him to look out of the bush. Phineas and Isabella walked past holding hands, smiles on their face clearly showing their new lease on life. Ferb raised an eyebrow at his brother. "We saved her." Ferb rolled his eyes clearly having known that from Isabella having walked past. "Oh umm I didn't really think we were going to disappear."

"Why not?" They took a second to listen to the conversation in the backyard

"Isabella. Good to see you. Did you see me out on the driveway?" Ferb asked followed by Phineas responding.

"We must've just missed him. I can hardly believe they came here just to erase their existence. I suppose that says something or another about how much we care about Isabella." Phineas and Ferb listened to the back door open and close as the kids went inside.

"Let's get to the museum's time machine and get back." Phineas ran out of the bush followed closely by Ferb.

"But what about Isabella?" Ferb stated it clearly and simply as always. Phineas stopped his jog away from the house now that they were out of eyesight, and began walking.

"She's still gone for us bro. We changed their timeline, not ours. If this was ours we would have seen ourselves show up back on today." Ferb put a hand on his brother's shoulder as a tear fell down both their cheeks. Phineas stood up straighter as he walked. "I know you're wondering why I would bother coming here if I didn't actually think it would fix our timeline." Ferb was silent in a truly questioning manner. "I..I.. I guess I just wanted to know somewhere we were sitting under a tree wondering what we were going to do with her there. That somewhere she could tell me how she felt and I could return the favor. I saw that today Ferb. I needed to know that she did and I did and..." He faded off while walking "And I know it doesn't make sense but it doesn't matter because I know when it's all over she's there, somewhere, with me, waiting, to know what we're going to do that day." They finally reached the time machine. Phineas climbed in leaving a spot for Ferb with a small smile on his face.

"You going to be okay bro?" Ferb asked before Phineas pulled the lever. Phineas looked at him for a second before he smiled and hugged his brother. They separated and looked at each other. An understanding passed between them. An understanding that every day would be okay.

* * *

><p>Phineas was never the same person he was before it happened. But he never changed. It was simply how his world changed around him. His views on the world were the same and his views on time were only slightly altered. His life still revolved around its pivotal moment. It wasn't until 2 years after Isabella's death that Phineas was able to bear hearing the words "Whatcha doing?" It was 15 years after it happened when Phineas finally let someone into his life the way he had only wished he could do with Isabella. Two years after that his world was flipped with the birth of his son and it was flipped again a year later with the birth of his daughter. Neither of these compared to what happened 19 years after the accident when his fiancé gave up and left him and the kids by themselves.<p>

It wasn't until 50 years after Isabella's death that Phineas saw the first of his grandchildren born. Both them and their kids were told of who their actual mother and grandmother was but the more interesting stories, the ones that lit the spark in the old man's eyes, were the ones about a small girl named Isabella. A girl they were sure would have been related to them if Phineas could allow it. Phineas nearly cried 65 years after Isabella's death when one of the youngest wanted to hear a story about "Grammy Isabella".

After a lifetime 71 and a half years after Isabella's death the whole of the Flynns, Fletchers, and every other last name those families had added to their dictionaries in the time since they were kids, gathered in the backyard with a simple telescope to watch Kermillian's Comet go by. Phineas watched it in the telescope as he ate his steak. Then he told his and Isabella's grandchildren about the whole of his childhood. One of his kids had written a book on his successful life but it wasn't the same as listening to him tell his stories. If they hadn't known any better they would have though him and his brother had gone senile with their stories and expressions but they were clearly too sane to not be.

It wasn't until an impressive 73 years after Isabella's death that Phineas finally joined her peacefully in his sleep. If you asked any of his children about it they would have laughed and told you it was just because he knew Isabella wanted him to make others happy that he didn't go meet her earlier. His funeral was the antithesis of Isabella's, almost to make up for it. He lived a full life, loved, lost, laughed, cried, sung, and danced and everyone celebrated a life such as this that some people only ever hope to have. They knew he wanted to stay with them but they knew they were keeping him from someone else. Someone they had come to know, respect, and love through him. Someone named Isabella.

(A/N Now I am 1000% sure its over. I mean I guess I _could_ talk about Ferb's life in his 90s but I won't. If you liked where it ended before better the amnesia-inator has been decommisioned due to Phinabella fan outrage. Sorry for the inconvenience. Also it might have started sounding a little religious at the end and while I'm not particularly religious I do think there is something after death and in the story this was fairly necessary for Phineas to have a reason to live. Thanks for reading!)


End file.
